Parzival
Parzival is a famous epic German poem, written by Wolfram Von Eschenbach circa year 1200, tells the story of one of Arthur’s knights, Parzival. Parzival is one of the many expansions of Chretien de Troyes’ unfinished story, Perceval: the Story of the Grail. It provides both a description of the knight’s history along with a conclusion to Parzival's Grail quest. It is noted for introducing the Holy Grail story to German literature and has been the inspiration for many modern day works including the opera Parsifal by Richard Wagner."Parzival." Encyclopaedia Britannica. Encyclopaedia Britannica Online Academic Edition. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2014. Web. 17 Feb. 2014. . Author The time period in which Wolfram von Eschenbach and Gottfried von Strassburg composed their works is considered “the high point of the Classical Middle High German Literature” according to Encyclopedia Britannica. Wolfram introduced creativity and imagination into the world of German literature, which inspired his colleagues Gottfried von Strassburg, Hartmann von Aue, and opera writers such as Richard Wagner."German literature." Encyclopaedia Britannica. Encyclopaedia Britannica Online Academic Edition. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2014. Web. 19 Feb. 2014. Wolfram was born around 1170 in Frankish Eschenbach, Bavaria and grew up in a relatively poor family. Some speculate that he earned his living as a “wandering minstrel,” until he was noticed by Gottfried von Strassburg. Though he grew up penniless, he knew how to read and write in German, and later in French. Later in life he became a Bavarian Knight, serving under the court of many princes who were patrons to his epics. He wrote the epic Willehalm in the castle of his most supportive patron: Prince Hermann of Thuringia. Wolfram died circa 1220 in his hometown, Echenbach."Bibliotheca Augustana." Bibliotheca Augustana. Web. 2 Mar. 2014. . Lesser known works of Wolfram von Eschenbach include Titurel, Willehalm, and many songs or lyric poems. Titurel is a continuation of Parzival, which tells the tale of the “tragic love of Sigune”, a side character of Parzival (“Wolfram von Eschenbach”). Willehalm is a historical tale of the crusader Guillaume d’Orange. Each of Wolfram’s songs consists of eight poems. His most famous lyric poem Tagelieder or “Dawn Songs”, describes “the parting of lovers at morning”.“Wolfram von Eschenbach.” Encyclopedia Britannica. Encyclopedia Britannica Online Academic Edition. Encyclopedia Britannica Inc., 2014. Web. 18 Feb. 2014. . Summary The story Parzival starts off with the tale of his father Gahmuret. Gahmuret spends most of his life wandering until he meets a queen named Belcane. He falls in love with her for a time, but eventually grow restless. The night he gets her pregnant he immediately leaves to fulfill his wanderlust. Gahmuret’s fighting capabilities are unparalleled and he spends some time wandering and winning jousting tournaments. Eventually he enters a competition to win the hand of Herzeloyde, the granddaughter of the Gral King, who was recently widowed. He wins the tournament and consequently her hand. Just as he grew restless with Belcane, Gahmuret quickly feels a need to adventure and leaves Herzeloyde. Not long after he left, Herzeloyde receives a vision of Gahmuret's death. She has been left a pregnant widow much like Belcane. As a result of the cruel way Gahmuret treated Herzeloyde, she decides that her son Parzival should never learn about the way of the knights. Herzeloyde decides that it would be best to exile herself and Parzival deep in a forest. However, one day Parzival stumbles upon a group of knights and becomes infatuated with the idea of becoming one. He tells his mother that he longs to become a knight, and although she tries her hardest to convince him otherwise, he soon sets out to find Arthur’s Court. Herzeloyde becomes so consumed by grief that she dies where she stands. Parzival soon finds himself at Arthur’s castle. When Arthur sees that Parzival has potential, he sends him out to defeat one of his enemies: the Red Knight. Parzival quickly defeats the knight and dons his red armor. Although he has proven that he was worthy of fighting against other knights, Parzival has yet to prove that he could act like a knight. In order to be taught the chivalric code of a knight he sets out to find his tutor Gurnemanz. Although Parzival has come a long way from when he left his mother’s home, he still acts childishly. Gurnemanz teaches him the basics of how to be chivalrous and how to joust. Parzival soon proves that his jousting abilities are unmatched just like his father’s had been. Gurnemanz then tells him about a queen Condwiramurs whose castle remains under siege. Parzival immediately sets out to save the queen. Upon arriving at the castle Parzival finds that the population has been suffering from the siege. When he finally meets the queen, he falls in love instantly. However, he feels a duty to save the population of the castle before he indulging in the beauty of the queen. He meets the oppressors on the battlefield, defeats them, and forces them to pledge loyalty to the queen. Not long after, Parzival and the queen get married and after some time are able to consummate their marriage. However, just like his father, Parzival soon feels a need to leave and set out on quest, in this isntance, to find out how his mother is faring. It was not long after Parzival set out that he finds himself lost. One day he happens upon lake and asks a man fishing on it if there is anywhere he could stay the night. The man directs him to the only castle in the area. The fisherman turns out to be the king of the castle and is referred to as the Fisher King. After Parzival enters the castle he soon finds out that the Fisher King is in bad condition. He takes a seat beside the king and a procession ensues. A Bleeding Lance is brought out first followed by many wonderful objects. The procession culminates with the presentation of the Holy Grail, which is described as a gemstone. Parzival watches the entire procession and goes through the entire feast without saying a word because he did not want to make a fool of himself. When the feast was over Parzival retired to his bedchamber. He did not sleep for long before he woke up and realized that everybody in the castle was gone. While he searched the castle he found one page that scolded him for not asking the Question. Parzival then returns to Arthur’s courts and begins to miss Condwiramirs. His longing for Condwiramirs consumes him to the point that he cannot even fight any more. This persists until he meets Gawain. They set off together in search of quests that were worthy of knights of their prominence. One day when Parzival was in Arthur’s court a strange-looking lady named Kundrie the Sorceress rode in. She accosted Parzival for not having asked the Question and claims that therefore he is a disgrace to the other knights. Parzival then decides to leave to finish the Grail Quest and decides that he will no longer use God as his motivation. Gawain and Parzival begin the quest together, but they soon part ways. Gawain spends most of his time trying to clear his name after he was falsely accused of murder. When the story turns back to Parzival he is struggling with the absence of God. One day he meets a hermit named Trevrizent. Trevrizent teaches Parzival much about life, love, the grace of God, and explains the significance of the Holy Grail. With his new motivation he sets back out to find the Grail. In order to find the Grail Parzival leaves the realm of Arthur. One day he finds himself fighting a knight who seems to be even better at sword fighting than he is. Parizval’s sword breaks during the fight, but his opponent does not slay him. Afterwards they begin to talk and he finds out that the knight, Feirefiz, is his half brother. Together they return to Arthur’s court and find Kundrie the Sorceress has returned. She announces that Parzival has been named the Lord of the Grail. Parzival then begins his journey back to the Grail. On his way back to the Grail, Parzival reunites with his wife Condwiramirs. Feirefiz accompanies Parzival even though he will not be able to see the Grail. However, he is able to see the Grail maiden, who he falls in love with. The poem finishes with an accounting of how the Grail was passed down and states that the Grail has been continuously passed down to this day.Lash, John, and Lydia Dzumardjin. "Parzival - A Synopsis." Metahistory.org. Web. 2 Mar. 2014. . ''Perceval'' It is important to mention what is widely regarded as the first grail narrative when speaking about Parzival. Chrétien de Troyes' Perceval: the story of the Grail set the basic outline for Wolfram's poem in that it essentially tells the same story, only more complete and with more evident thematic messages. Summary Perceval’s journey starts in a remote forest somewhere in Wales. One day Perceval has a chance encounter with a group of knights and decides that it is his destiny to become a knight. His mom vehemently objects and informs him that his father had been one of the greatest knights of all time. Perceval continues on his journey despite his mother’s pleadings, and she falls to the ground in despair. After a short journey Perceval finds himself in King Arthur’s court. Sir Kay fires several jests at him insinuating that he will never become a knight. Perceval finds himself on a journey to defeat the Red Knight that had been annoying King Arthur for some time. On the journey he meets a laughing maiden that prophesizes to him that he will become the greatest knight of all time. After Perceval has proven himself he begins to train under Gornemant, who teaches him the nuances of how to act like a knight. After he has finished his training he sets of to go figure out what happened to his mom. On the way he comes across the Fisher King. That night Perceval finds himself in the midst of a great feast in the Fisher King’s castle. There is a great procession in which the Grail and a bleeding lance are brought out. Perceval finds himself afraid to ask about what he is seeing because he had been warned not to talk too much. Perceval does not ask any questions about the procession. The next morning Perceval wakes up and finds that the castle is empty. Perceval leaves the castle and meets a weeping maiden who reveals to him that he should have asked a question about the grail and the lance. Later Perceval vows to find an explanation for the grail and the lance and finds himself in the midst of a long journey to find an explanation for what he saw in the Fisher King’s castle. After Perceval starts his quest the story does not focus on him as much. Instead the story shifts to Gawain. In the midst of both of their quests the tale abruptly ends without any resolution of their quests.Chrétien de Troyes. Perceval: The Story of the Grail. Trans. Burton Raffel. Milano: Mondadori, 1983. Print. Comparison The similarities between the characters Parzival and Perceval are extensive. *The first would be that both characters grew up isolated from the rest of the world. In both cases this was because the mother felt that her son needed to be kept away from knights. *In both stories the grief that the mother felt when her son set off to become a knight was so great that it caused her to die on the spot. *When Parzival reached the castle he was not taken seriously because he was dressed like a fool and not like a knight. Perceval was not taken seriously because he was unproven. In both cases when they defeated the Red Knight they proved that they were worthy of knighthood. *Even though they were able to prove themselves worthy with the sword they still had a long way to go before they conducted themselves like a knight. In both stories they spent time being tutored in the ways that a knight must act, which is often recognized as the chivalric code. *Pazival and Perceval were both taken to the Fisher King’s castle and witnessed a procession. Although they were very confused by what was going on that they failed to ask the Question that would heal the Fisher King. *In both stories they found out that they failed to ask the question and set out on a quest to find the Grail once again. However, the quest proves to not be straightforward and they spend several years wandering around. In that time they lose their connection to God. Contrast The differences between the two versions stem from the fact that Wolfram was able to finish his story while Chretien did not. The areas that are different are there to help develop the story so that Wolfram can tie everything together at the end. *The first difference is the start of the story. The first third of Wolfram’s story is about Parzival’s father Gahmuret. This story is very significant at the end because Gahmuret has another son besides Parzival, who is critical to the resolution of Wolfram’s book. *The next difference is how Parzival falls in love with Condwiramirs. Wolfram’s version is arguably more of a romance than Chretien’s and Condwiramirs plays a large part in that. Wolfram uses their relationship as what fuels Parzival to search for the Grail after he loses touch with God. *The physical appearance of the Grail may not seem like an important difference, but it paved the way for later grail narratives to make the Grail whatever they saw fit. In Wolfram’s story the Grail is not a platter or chalice, but rather a gemstone. It is also referred to as the Holy Grail while Chretien just refers to it as the Grail.Murphy, G. Ronald. Gemstone Of Paradise: The Holy Grail In Wolfram's “Parzival”: Oxford University Press, 2006. Oxford Scholarship Online. Web. 18 Feb. 2014. *Kundrie the Sorceress plays an important role in Wolfram’s story, while her nameless counterpart plays a less prevalent role in Chretien’s. Wolfram uses Kundrie to spur Parzival to begin his quest for the Grail. Kundrie is also the reason that Parzival no longer believes in God. In addition, Kundrie tells Parzival that he is the next Grail king. *Of course Wolfram’s conclusion to the book is different from Chretien’s because Chretien passed away while writing his, but it still important to note the manner in which he completed his poem. Even though Wolfram tells the story about Gahmuret at the beginning, he does not reference it until the very end of the book when Feirefiz makes an appearance. By telling the story at the beginning Wolfram was able to tie everything together at the end. Even though Chretien did not finish his romance, it was hard to really get a sense of how he was planning to wrap everything up. It almost seemed like he was going to make Gawain the hero at the end instead of Perceval. Wolfram did not take his lead in that regard, and one gets the sense that he only tells Gawain’s story to show that he did not think Gawain deserved the Grail. Motifs Since it’s birth in Chretien de Troyes’ Perceval and up until present day, the original ‘grail narrative’ has seen many motifs added on and associated with it. Without a doubt one of the most influential narratives on modern grail motifs as we now know them, Wolfram von Eschenbach’s Parzival set standards for what to expect from a grail narrative for years to come. The guileless hero Wolfram’s Parzival helped ingrain a motif which continues to live on some seven hundred odd years later. In Parzival, Wolfram introduces the idea of the primary grail knight being innocent and clueless, almost to a fault. In the novel, Parzival is described as a “fool-like lad” who “cut a rather ridiculous sight compared to the poised, finely arrayed knights” of more traditional grail tales (Lash 9&10). In previous ‘grail’ stories the knights were often portrayed as valiant and heroic, two characteristics that are never attributed to Parzival. When Parzival falls in love with the queen of Alsace he is portrayed as being so innocent and naïve that for while he is confused and troubled about just how they must consummate their love (Wolfram). At that age failing to be knowledgeable about the basics of reproduction shows just how innocent he truly is. Instances such as these are among the first occurrences of a grail night displaying such contrasting characteristics. The stone Now this is not to say that Parzival failed to leave it’s mark on earlier literature either, as this next motif is one that is just as, if not more, pertinent than the last in the evolution of grail lore. When it came to ancient grail narratives, up until Wolfram’s Parzival, the object of the grail was repeatedly portrayed as a sort of dish or chalice. However in Parzival, Wolfram flips the script on past motifs and becomes the first poet to illustrate the grail as something entirely different: a “green-grass stone” made of serpentine (Murphy 182). By doing so Wolfram set a new standard by which a grail can be represented, a standard that is reflected in later narratives such as Peredur son of Efrawg. Legacy Parzival's has had a vast influence in the overall grail legend due to a multitude of factors. As a 13th century text, the effect it had on grail lore is two-fold; lack of many other such narratives at the time helped Parzival to shape the genre as a whole, and the length of time it has existed allows it to continuously influence newer grail stories throughou history. In addition, it is a complete narrative'' with a more direct approach than its predecessor ''Perceval. Clear motifs in the poem created a slightly more defined mold for the narratives to come, contributing to an already growing pattern of composition. ''Parsifal'' Richard Wagner, a famous German playwrite, completed his opera Parsifal in the late 19th century. It was beased loosely on Parzival, keeping only the general plotline and motifs intact. Parsifal is described as a "fool enlightened by compassion".Everett, Derrik. "Parsifal - a New English Translation with Commentary." Monsalvat - the Parsifal pages. N.p., 7 Jan. 2014. Web. 19 Feb. 2014. Unfortunately, Parsifal fails to answer when asked if he understands Amortas' suffering. His foolish lack of a response reintroduces the idea of the guileless hero who does not wish harm upon others, but his own lack of wisdom brings it anyway. He does eventually achieve the Grail by correcting his ways with piety and empathy (he is forced to feel Amortas' wounds upon himself). ''Peredur son of Efrawg'' In the tale Peredur arrives at a grail castle and is asked to dine there, while inside he witnesses two maidens carrying “a great salver between them, and a man’s head on the salver”.Barber, Richard W. "Peredur." The Holy Grail: Imagination and Belief. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 2004. 237-39. Print. Although included in the grail procession, in this instance it was not the salver itself but rather the decapitated head laying on it that was important. The severed head comes as much of a shock and surprise to the audience, and undoubtedly Peredur himself, but it was for this reason that the tale includes this motif. The first of it’s kind, Wolfram’s grail was a ground breaking motif that paved the way for future stories such as Peredur son of Efrawg to shed a different light on the infamous tale. ''Monty Python and the Holy Grail'' This motif of a "guileless hero" can be found alive and well in modern renditions of the grail legend like the movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail, directed by Terry Gilliam. In the movie the audience follows the story of King Arthur and his knights of the round table in their quest for the grail. On their quest they come upon a castle guarded by Frenchman, seeing no other way of getting inside the knights devise the perfect plan to gain entry as seen in the video to the left.Monty Python and the Holy Grail. By Terry Gilliam, Graham Chapman, John Cleese, and Eric Idle. Perf. Graham Chapman, John Cleese, and Eric Idle. Columbia Tristar Home Entertainment, 2002. Web. 2 Mar. 2014. . As one may tell from the clip, King Arthur and his knights are slightly dull to say the least. Sir Bedevere neglects the most crucial part of the plan—the knights being inside the Trojan rabbit. In addition to their clueless actions displayed here, on their journey the knights ride around on ‘horses’ made of air and clap coconuts together to mimic the sound of hooves. Like Parzival, the knights are portrayed as “fool-like” in their dress and behavior, as both pale in comparison to those of traditional knights. After the failed siege they embark on several seemingly (and indeed) pointless adventures in the name of finding the Grail. Missions such as rescuing a prince from marraige and facing "certain peril" at a castle of virgins indicate just how dim and directionless the knights truly are. These examples amongst many others display the moronic actions of the knights in the film, a motif most definitely shared with Parzival. ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'' Harry Potter might not seem very comparable to Parzival or even a grail narrative at all at first glance, but it most certainly fits the mold. Harry is on a quest to find and protect the Philosopher's Stone, an alchemical artifact rumored to give everlasting life (and thus conforms to the idea of a grail). Harry himself is all but completely ignorant of the wizarding world and its nuances, yet he boldly (and rather foolishly) decides he is the one to find and protect the Stone. As such he himself could be called a guileless hero searching for a grail in the shape of a precious stone. This suddenly seems more akin to Parzival than previously anticipated. The relation is even further compounded when one considers how both Harry and Parzival have fathers who were deeply involved in the world they are just beginning to explore.Rowling, J. K.. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. London: Bloomsbury Pub., 1997. Print.Morris, Phyllis D.. "Elements of the Arthurian Tradition in Harry Potter." Harry Potter for Seekers. Hans Andréa, n.d. Web. 2 Mar. 2014. . References